Another blogger emailed me for my thoughts about upgrades at the Grand Hyatt Tampa, a property I’ll be visiting in September for the first time for Frequent Traveler University. He was frustrated because the hotel confirms upgrades (using Diamond confirmed upgrade certificates or points) to a room type that is better than the base-level suite. There weren’t any of these rooms available during his stay. There were lesser suites, he would have been happy with one, but they weren’t initially made available to him. He pushed and apparently an exception was made. Nonetheless he felt that the hotel was being less generous than they should be, not allowing confirmed upgrades into their base suite (which are more plentiful than the room category they do assign). I thought this was an interesting take, and one which…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for August 2013.
W Hotels Store 40% Off on Everything (includes Beds and Bedding)
The W Hotels Store is running a 40% off sale on everything through September 4 with coupon code LD4W7. I bought my own bed with a 40% discount — the last time I remember this being offered was March 2012 but I may have missed one or two along the way. It was much more common to see 40% discounts between 2006 and 2009. And I got in before the May 2010 price increase. I bought my Queen Plush Top bed and frame for $720 all-in, free shipping and no sales tax. The same purchase today, with this deal is about $100 more. But still a great value I think. Charges at the W Hotel Store do earn double points on the Starwood American Express cards. I’ve been happy with the purchase. It’s a good…
Review: Grand Hyatt Singapore (Upgrade to a Duplex Suite) and Hotel Pickup #FAIL
Last year I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Singapore and really enjoyed it. If you want to be on Orchard Road it’s a great option. Singapore is a very tough hotel town, lots of good hotels but only a few that are close to great — and even the good ones can be pricey. So the ability to leverage elite benefits or points can be a strong benefit. I booked a discounted paid rate and confirmed my upgrade in advance. Hyatt allows Diamonds to confirm upgrades to suites at time of booking (subject to availability) 4 times per year for up to 7 nights each time. And they allow all members to use just 6000 points to confirm an upgrade of up to 4 nights if paying the ‘Hyatt Daily Rate’. The standard upgrade here…
Bits ‘n Pieces for August 15, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Cranky Flier walks through a few of the markets where the Department of Justice claims that an American – US Airways merger would constitute a violation of anti-trust law. Doesn’t look good for DOJ, and I’m increasingly wondering if DOJ just wanted to get something filed before today’s bankruptcy hearing where the judge was expected to approve the merger — to put a flag down on the play. But the rhetoric of the brief was stronger than I’d have expected if that were true (more difficult to walk back from), so I’m still not sure. Pizza in Motion interviews the heads of the MGM M Life and Hyatt Gold Passport programs for Milepoint.tv Lucky says that the increase in price of Delta SKymiles business class awards for travel…
An Introduction to Singapore Hawker Centers – How They Work, and Which One is Best for You?
Singapore is one of the world’s best food cities, both at the high and low end of the spectrum Hawker centers are one of the primary reasons that Singapore — far from just being ‘a stopover’ — is one of my favorite cities in the world. What are Hawker Centers? Hawker centers are basically food courts which host a variety of providers, each of which usually specializes in one or just a few dishes. Because there are many providers, many of whom make the same or similar things, competition is intense. The best, then, become very good. The dishes are usually cheap. Singapore is known for the hawker center, and the government owns the facilities — originally they were a move towards centralizing the food stalls and ensuring hygiene. More recently they’re supported to preserve…
Delta Increases Price of International Business Class Awards
Delta just dropped a new award chart with increased mileage costs for some international business class routes – the award chart is live now and applies to travel from June 1, 2014 onward. (Travel prior to that date should price at the older levels.) For instance, US-Europe in business class goes from 100,000 to 125,000 miles roundtrip US-Asia in business class goes from 120,000 to 140,000 miles roundtrip US-Australia in business class goes from 150,000 to 160,000 miles roundtrip US-South Africa in business class goes from 140,000 to 160,000 miles They say the need for the change is because their product is so good. In June 2014, we will be the only U.S. carrier to offer full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access in Business Class across our entire wide-body fleet. Except… except… United is…
The American/US Airways Merger is Far From Over
The big news yesterday was that the Department of Justice filed suit to stop the American – US Airways merger. Why I Didn’t Expect the Government to File Suit to Stop the Merger I did not expect the DOJ to file a suit to block the merger, I assumed that some negotiation would generate sign-off on the merger. I speculated that the filing of the suit could be a negotiating tactic, but that my initial sense was this was unlikely — they wouldn’t need to go through the effort just to demonstrate their seriousness, and they laid out a fairly broad and sweeping case against the merger that would be difficult to walk back from with merely the sorts of concessions that American and US Airways could offer. Blocking the merger is bad for labor…
Department of Justice Files Suit to Block US Airways/American Airlines Merger
Wow. A DOJ anti-trust suit was’t expected. There has long been the belief that there would need to be some divestiture of takeoff and landing slots at Washington’s National airport for the deal to go through — US Airways is already the dominant carrier there, and had to divest some slots when they did their swap of LaGuardia slots with Delta. So it wasn’t expected they could just combine their National airport position with American’s. But the DOJ position is apparently based on the overall competitive environment. US Airways and American currently overlap on very few non-stop routes, so it isn’t about specific city pairs that will see reduced competition. The European Union has already signed off on the deal, seeking only to deal with the Philadelphia – London route. A DOJ suit clearly puts…
Cathay Pacific Adding Newark Service, and Award Space is Amazing
Cathay Pacific’s new route is Hong Kong – Newark. The flight will be operated by a 777 with 3 classes of service — business, premium economy, and economy. There’s no first class on the Newark route, but Cathay Pacific has my absolute favorite business class, reasonable people can make the case that EVA Airways is better with a very similar seat and as the only airline that serves Dom Perignon in (long haul) business. The flight times are: Depart Hong Kong 5pm, Arrive Newark 9pm (same day) Depart Newark 1:50a, Arrive Hong Kong 540am (next day) These are well timed for connections from other Asian destinations enroute to Newark, and for connections on both ends for the Newark – Hong Kong flight. This won’t really allow for any connections beyond Newark when arriving from Hong…
Bits ‘n Pieces for August 13, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Plane makes an emergency landing in a Wawa parking lot. Frequent Miler covers targeted offers for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa of 70,000 points with fee waiver and 140,000 points without fee waiver. I’d prefer the fee waived version of the card (rather than buying incremental Marriott points at over half a cent apiece, unless using those points as part of a travel package). It’s a great card for regular Marriott guests who don’t stay enough to earn Gold status, and it’s made from some pretty serious metal. Alaska Airlines is offering a 40% bonus on purchased miles through September 30. That prices miles at about 2.1 cents apiece. You can buy up to 40,000 miles (plus bonus) per transaction, and can make as many transactions as you wish,…
